Girl · Sanskrit · Hindu
Shakuntala
शकुन्तलाSay it shuh-KOON-tuh-laa
- Meaning
- Name of Kaṇva's foster-daughter, 'protected by birds', mother of Bharata Monier-Williams, p. 1046
- Say it
- shuh-KOON-tuh-laa
- Written
- शकुन्तला
- Other spellings
- Shakuntla, Sakuntala
Shakuntala
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Shakuntala meaning
Shakuntala (शकुन्तला) is a Hindu girl's name of Sanskrit origin.
Name of Kaṇva's foster-daughter, 'protected by birds', mother of Bharata
Shakuntala (शकुन्तला) is the Sanskrit śakuntalā, which Monier-Williams derives from śakunta, "a bird". He tells her story: the daughter of the Apsaras Menakā and the sage Viśvāmitra, she was left as a baby in the forest, protected by birds until the sage Kaṇva found her and raised her. King Duṣyanta met her while hunting and married her, and their son Bharata was said to rule all India. Their separation through a curse and reunion through a lost ring is the subject of Kālidāsa's play Abhijñānaśākuntalam. Name lists give "protected by birds". The mathematician Shakuntala Devi carried the name.
Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 1046 · entry śakuntalā · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Monier-Williams, śakuntalā, p. 1046 · Monier-Williams, śakunta, p. 1046 · Wikipedia, Shakuntala Devi
Famous namesakes
- Śakuntalā, heroine of the Mahābhārata and of Kālidāsa's play
- Shakuntala Devi, mathematician known as the "Human Computer" (1929–2013)
Spellings
Shakuntala · Shakuntla · Sakuntala